VANJA IZOVA VELEVA

 

The Imaginary Garden

 

I decided to create my own garden,

unique, unusual.

With my hands raised towards the sun

I invite it

to witness my creation.

In my magnificent garden,

trees have umbrellas instead of canopies,

defy heat,

shelter from the rain, and conceal from sight.

I invented flowers in a glass hoop

carefully planted in transparent silence

to preserve its beauty.

In my garden, everything is safe

Instead of herbs, cotton I shall scatter,

whiteness sprinkled throughout the day.

Birds land silently,

drink from the imaginary river,

flow upwards

The water plays

with my sun

both giving birth to a rainbow.

This is what my garden looks like...

…full with invention

but mine

 

From A Woman's Angle

 

It is said even the eaves

cry when a woman is born.

It is said they roar loudly

defying the sky,

to scream loudly

opposing the night.

It is said the eaves weap

when a woman is born,

yet out of joy.

A woman was born

under the eaves

huddled in silence,

standing up to the challenge.

She is not a damnation to be damned for

for you to mourn

she is not an apparition

to run in fear away from.

She is а lantern in a well

she is a heel stuck in cobblestone

 If you give her fire

water she’ll become,

if you bring her wind

a windmill she’ll be.

She’ll make a necklace of the stones,

she'll wear a nettle vest

because a woman she is.

That's why the eaves were crying –

 

The Crack

 

We were born in a crack of an egg

fragile and empty

with a whip of thunder

and tongues of fire

tasting the earth.

We were born with a gram of cry

and several stretches,

wrapped in cloth like caterpillars

and waiting for our wings...

We keep our shells

as a reminder of

how far we have come

and how fragile our cradle is.

We were born in a crack and

in a crack, we shall return.

They welcome us in cloth and

in cloth we are bidden farewell.

Just one of us shall get their wings.

 

VANJA IZOVA VELEVA

 

VANJA IZOVA VELEVA was born in Strumica. She is a poet and has been a member of the Macedonian Writers’ Association since 1995. In 2012, she completed her master's degree at the Institute for Macedonian Literature at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje at CULTURAL STUDIES IN LITERATURE postgraduate study program and obtained the title of Master of Cultural Studies. Vanja Izova Veleva is the author of several poetry collections: She is also the author of the following prose books and publications: „Неколку легенди за Струма“ / Nekolku legendi za Struma (2011) „Жената и каменот“ / Ženata i kamenot (2013) – master's thesis. Izova Veleva is the co-author of the monographic edition „Чекори по ѕвездените штици“ / Čekori po ѕvezdenite štici. She is the author of a documentary film about Doyrana. Vanja Izova Veleva has been published in several anthologies and many languages, such as English, French, Serbian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, Spanish, Polish, and Russian.